The Baltimore Banner

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The Baltimore Banner’s four-part series exposed decades of alleged sexual abuse and cover-up by officials of Greater Grace World Outreach Church, an international evangelical megachurch headquartered in Baltimore. The Banner’s coverage focused on a group of survivors who had been raised in the church but quit the congregation and began investigating sex abuse by church officials. Members of the survivors’ group were initially reluctant to speak on the record, but the Banner spent months building trust by allowing survivors to set the pace and tone of interviews and assuring that sources who agreed to be identified were aware of the potential consequences. Before publishing, Banner journalists traveled to Maine and Virginia to confront church leaders in person.